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September 18, 2007
Neon Lights: She Keeps Bees
So, this Friday we'll be mourning the last precious drops of Summer and celebrating the first fledgling steps of Fall with the latest entry to our exemplary Neon Lights concert series. Once again, the Union Hall's lovably Lynchian concert space will play host for our lovingly selected spate of bands.
The first duo to take the stage will be Brooklyn newcomers, She Keeps Bees. In reference to their home recorded 2006 debut album, Minisink Hotel, Washington D.C.'s City Paper filed this accurate report:
"Under the moniker She Keeps Bees, Jessica Larrabee along with collaborator and co-producer Andy LaPlant recorded her debut album, Minisink Hotel, with the most minimal of accouterments, mainly her home computer and a microphone. The arrangements are sparse, allowing Larrabee’s vocals to take center stage. There’s a hint of the alluring guttural quality of PJ Harvey, assuming Polly Jean spent an evening with a banjo and some old Merle Haggard records. Larrabee has the kind of twangy, whiskey-soaked voice you would assume was nurtured in a dying coal mining town, not Brooklyn."
As our prized readers are clearly to clever to rest on press clippings for proof of smoldering blues excellence, I give you audio evidence below:
This Minisink stand out recalls the stark minimalism of Chan Marshall's pre-sobriety jams, though Jess never sounds as hopelessly fragile. There's a self possessed power to her smoky vocals that would never crumble under a beam of spotlight. The dark tone doesn't offer many rays itself, but the track's beauty doesn't demand high beams to discover. Late in the track, singular piano stabs are joined by a limping rhythm and some slow motion hand claps. It's a minor nod towards a low end, but it pushes the song forward as the melancholy threatens to blanket our gal once and for all.
This track, from July's Shhhh! EP ironically finds Jessica sounding more like Fiona Apple, as she forsakes the piano for some mean alt blues guitar. Lyrically, the song seems to tread in the muck of a recent break-up, but again Larrabee sounds too strong to be the victim. "I've got daddy's eyes, and they refuse to see me cry," she spits. I'd hate to be the bloke on the receiving end of their glare.
Buy tickets for Friday's show, right here, right now. I'll be here all week with mp3's from and general info on our remaining two bands.
Meet me back here tomorrow?
Posted by Jeff Klingman at September 18, 2007 08:55 PM
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